extract thumbnails from xvid file automatically?

[graysky]

I'm looking for a way to index some home movies. Is there a freeware (or cheap shareware) util that will take an xvid file and take a screenshot ever so many frames or minutes automatically?

What I'd really like is for a util to do that, AND then add all the thumbnails w/ timestamp in a mosaic format in a larger file so one can quickly scan through to identify contents of an avi home movie. I have seen compilation images like this before which are more or less contact sheets containing resized (thumbnail) images as I described.

About 10 minutes of googling didn't get me anything I want.

Thanks all!

[mats.hogberg]

If you want 1 frame each 10 minutes, load AVI in VirtualDubMpg2 (may be the same for other VDub versions too) and load the AVI.
Under Video, select Framerate. Select the Decimate by.. and enter 15000 to get one frame each 10 minutes (25 fps). Add other filters if you want to (like resize & c).
Under File, Save image sequence, select target format and location and you're done.

/Mats

[graysky]

Thanks for the reply... I actually found a freeware app that does it automatically: ImageGrabber II

http://www45.brinkster.com/antworkz/

[Soopafresh]

You can also do this in MediaPlayer Classic - File -->Save Thumbnails.

It automatically creates a proof sheet for you, and it looks pretty good!

[graysky]

didn't know mpc had that ability. very cool thanks for pointing it out (better late than never reply)